wolfkissed| petyr baelish (littlefinger)

Twenty-Seven

        The day of the tourney had finally arrived. It was to be an extraordinary ordeal. Arya sat upon Jales bed as her handmaiden Layne attempted to do a southern hair style upon her head.

"You look stupid." Arya gave her sister a disgusted look.

Layne was a southerner, a bastard daughter of House Royce of The Vale. She wore her thick and curly hair in the high mounds the noble women did here. Jale herself thought it an ugly and unflattering style.

"I know." Jale huffed as Layne looked in the mirror at her work she had personally found quality.

"I can take it down if you wish my Lady. I do not know how to do northern lower styles but I can try if you shall let me." Layne forced a frustrated smile at her Lady.

Jale agreed to let Layne try her hand at a northern style. Layne left her Lady and Lady Arya in each other's company as she went to fetch more leather bands and smoothing horse hair brushes.

Layne sorted through the royal ladies storage room for all things papering. Oils, herbal remedies, and many daily necessities but she could not lay her eye on a horse hair brush.

"Are you looking for this." The tan Layne turned pale as she nearly jump out of her skin.

There before her stood a tall and beautiful red haired woman. Her lips smirking as she barely held the brush between her fingers.

"You southern ladies don't normally use these. May I ask why your Lady should need it? I'm Roslyn. But everyone calls me Ros." The pillow maiden smiled as she extended her hand to the shorter girl a few years younger than herself.

Layne shook the woman's hand, shocked by the softness of her skin. It was not common for a servant or handmaidens hands to be so unscarred.

"I've never seen you here before. May I ask who you serve?" Layne asked in suspicion.

"I just arrived from The North. I'm here in training under Bernadette and Myliciti. I'm heading to the Reach soon for Hightower. I used to serve House Hornwood but gained a higher position. Just stopping through and am gain more knowledge on you southerners." Ros half lied as she had been instructed. She had served the men of Hornwood on many a night.

Layne sighed as she let her walls fall.

"I serve Lady Jaleryd of House Stark. She does not favor southern style so I must try my hand at the northern way."

Ros acted shocked as Layne told her.

"Lady Jaleryd! I can help you if her ladyship should permit me to."

Layne thought very hard upon it but finally decided to present this Ros character to Lady Jaleryd. She knew her lady was forgiving if this happened to offend her.

Arya was mocking Jale's hair when Layne returned with a strange woman. Jale looked puzzle as the strange woman held herself like a harlot. Instead of hold her head high with her shoulders back she clung to the side of the wall with a smirk.

"My lady, please forgive me if I have overstepped. I do not know northern customs and this handmaiden here is from The North. She has offered to assist me if you should approve." Layne kept her eyes to the floor as she inspected Ros with cynical brow.

Arya also knew very quickly something was off about this woman. She appeared to have never set foot in a place of nobility in her life. If her mother had been there that girl would be out of The Red Keep faster than Nymeria could run.

"You are no woman of birth." Jale stated matter of factly.

Layne quickly spoke. She was nervous at the tone of her voice.

"She is here in passing, going to serve House Hightower. She once served House Hornwood, your bannermen my lady." Laynes hands started to shake. She new Jale would do nothing to harm her but she feared angering her. She was known to hold a temper at times. She was the only woman who had ever stood up to Queen Cersei.

"She lies. This woman has never once stood in a keep by the way she stands. No high born lady would ever allow her to stand so sultry in front of their husbands. She is a whore. And a spy."

Ros turned as red as her hair. She stood quickly as Layne turned quickly with a scrutinizing gaze. Layne was about to lash out at the brothel woman but her lady beat her.

"What's your name? The one they call in bed." Ros felt the cold gaze of the Stark. It was perhaps even more unsettling than her new masters.

"Ros."

Jale laughed a bit as she looked to her little sister. Who despite being so young had also heard of the name. Theon never shut up about her.

"What brings a northern pillow maiden from right outside Winterfell to The Red Keep? Theon always talked about a red headed whore named Ros. He would go to you at least thrice a cycle."

Ros feared for her life when Jale blatantly told her how she knew of her. Lord Baelish would be infuriated for her lies.

Ros had lied to Littlefinger. She had told him she was from a brothel closer to the Boltons. Littlefinger, when he came into contact with more intelligent whores, liked to use them as his eyes and ears. But he had a strict rule that they must not be known as it puts him in danger.

Ros had put her entire life on the line to leave The North. Her master had contacted Lord Baelish and lied for her. When Lord Baelish asked why he had heard the name Ros so much, her master said she was popular amongst lower lords. A safer company.

"I- I am so sorry my Lady." Ros quickly crossed the room and knelt before the Stark. Jale looked to Arya before laughing.

"I know he sent you. It's been weeks. I need someone to do my hair and I will keep your secret if you tell him one thing."

Jale lent down to the whores ear.

"I will tolerate his improper behavior and advances. But tell him to keep whores out of my bedroom or i'll put my wolf in his. I can assure that her lips are just as pleasurable."

Ros smiled and began work on the girls hair. She admired her Lady. She had remembered the day of her birth and how long the bells rang. She used to remember that day is distaste as she had no business and was blessed with a headache from all the chiming. But now she understood what made this Stark worth such ruckus.